HOOQ (now liquidated) followed the same approach and it ended up as an operational nightmare.
HBO Max taking on Netflix with human curation instead of relying on algorithms
21–30 of 168 posts
Re: HBO Max taking on Netflix with human curation instead of relying on algorithms
#22If they could show the IMDB rating, it would be enough for me.
Re: HBO Max taking on Netflix with human curation instead of relying on algorithms
#23I don't know if netflix has enough content for curator aglorithms, at first it was recommending me some good older movies which was great but if netflix ever moves on to only originals and then only starts recommending those i will definitely cancel my subscription.
Re: HBO Max taking on Netflix with human curation instead of relying on algorithms
#24I doubt they will completely remove algorithms from the curation process. In my experience what is incredibly powerful is human curation ability multiplied by the leverage of algorithms.
The most straightforward example of this is for curation candidates to be proposed by algorithms, and then finalized by humans.
That approach works really well for things like creating digital maps from signals, and is employed pretty extensively by mapping companies as productivity multipliers.
Or even more familiar, it's what's behind things like smart select and magic wands in image editing tools.
Re: HBO Max taking on Netflix with human curation instead of relying on algorithms
#25As Netflix has moved away from carrying lots of other people's movies to largely producing their own in-house TV shows, it feels like they barely have enough content to need an algorithm to curate it. They just show the same new Netflix originals over and over in ever category. I'm sure Netflix has piles of data that shows this is the best strategy. It just seems like a differentiated curation strategy doesn't matter…
They produced 371 tv shows and movies last year. Combine that with previous years, it’s a lot of content that they own.
Re: HBO Max taking on Netflix with human curation instead of relying on algorithms
#26I wasn't old enough to remember it, but when search engines tried to do this in the 90s, it became clear that people preferred machine recommendations. See yahoo directory, look smart.
It feels like different problem sets might yield different results no?
As an avid music fan the ways I've sought out new material go as follows: - Originally, recommendations via trusted outlets / forum members - Not so long ago, Spotify algorithm recommendations - Currently, curated recommendations via trusted outlets / social media posters
My anecdotal experience between Netflix/HBO follows a similar pattern:
I tend to first go to a provider like HBO when seeking out new content, assuming quality is higher than whatever Netflix is pushing on me these days.
In contrast, a roommate of mine almost exclusively uses Netflix. She is more of the put on whatever, maybe pay attention maybe not type of viewer.
I guess summed up the main difference FOR ME between the two is HBO: "I need something good!" and Netflix: "I need something new!"
Re: HBO Max taking on Netflix with human curation instead of relying on algorithms
#27As Netflix has moved away from carrying lots of other people's movies to largely producing their own in-house TV shows, it feels like they barely have enough content to need an algorithm to curate it. They just show the same new Netflix originals over and over in ever category. I'm sure Netflix has piles of data that shows this is the best strategy. It just seems like a differentiated curation strategy doesn't matter…
That's very odd, because my experience and everyone I've ever seen commenting on it is the exact opposite: it seems like there's 80 new shows a week on Netflix and it's impossible to keep up. Every time I hear about a new show that's interesting there are 5 other ones up by the time I get around to watching it.
Re: HBO Max taking on Netflix with human curation instead of relying on algorithms
#28Netflix doesn't care about what you like. Their algorithms are centered around the concept of what are you most likely to binge through.
Similar to Youtube recommendations and how they are simply videos are most likely to watch through.
Re: HBO Max taking on Netflix with human curation instead of relying on algorithms
#29As Netflix has moved away from carrying lots of other people's movies to largely producing their own in-house TV shows, it feels like they barely have enough content to need an algorithm to curate it. They just show the same new Netflix originals over and over in ever category. I'm sure Netflix has piles of data that shows this is the best strategy. It just seems like a differentiated curation strategy doesn't matter…
It feels to me like the balkanization of streaming services was inevitable and Netflix getting into the content game was just a logical response to remain relevant. If the catalog is what garners subscribers then a streaming service without its own catalog is basically fucked in the long term.
It's interesting that HBO reached agreement to stream trough Hulu (Disney) even when WarnerMedia is trying to push their own competitor HBO Max.
Re: HBO Max taking on Netflix with human curation instead of relying on algorithms
#30If they could show the IMDB rating, it would be enough for me.
Why do streaming services tend to show the Rotten Tomatoes score instead of IMDb? I trust the IMDb score a lot more...